After Green Revolution and White Revolution, the Financial Revolution in India is all set to transform the Rural Economy: Secretary, Corporate Affairs;

IICA and IPPB sign an Agreement as part of a collaborative effort towards Financial Inclusion.

Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) signed here yesterday an Agreement. Under the Agreement, IICA has been entrusted with the key responsibility of capacity building of IPPB through training of its officials/employees besides providing research support by instituting Research Chairs in the emerging area of payment banking.

In his Presiding Remarks, Shri Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) remarked that “after green and white revolution, a Financial Revolution in India is all set to transform the rural economy”. “With massive network of post offices, IPPB can very effectively remedy the lack of financial inclusion in India” said Shri Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, MCA, while speaking on the occasion of Agreement Signing Ceremony between Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) in New Delhi yesterday. Senior officials from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and Department of Posts, Faculty and officials from IICA and other invited guests participated in the ceremony.

On this occasion, Secretary, Department of Posts, Shri AN Nanda highlighted that mobilization of household savings – a sound pillar giving strength to Indian economy – has been facilitated by Department of Posts since long. He emphasized that IPPB shall be adding further strength to Jandhan Yojana of the Government of India by facilitating ‘ease of transaction’.

IPPB is a flagship "financial inclusion" initiative of Government of India to cover major portion of the country's population that is outside the ambit of formal banking.

Shri Gyaneshawar Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, MCA and DG & CEO, IICA presented the framework of the collaboration to the house, and said that the services provided by the IPPB will be at the doorstep which will include third party transfer and Direct Benefit Transfer. He said that the policy of last 60 years will become reality in the next 5-6 years. “We want to leverage the trust held by the Post Office and the Postman. The trust that the people repose in Postmen will help immensely in delivering of financial services. This is a rural-centric initiative as city has abundant financial services.”

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Suresh Sethi, MD & CEO, IPPB, said that this is the largest financial literacy mission in the world. India Post Payments Bank can reach 6 times from the 50,000 branches currently. The rural banking infrastructure has the potential of increasing 10-fold. The India Post Payments Bank infrastructure will connect with the bigger banking infrastructure and provide inclusive banking services in the rural area. Training takes a central role as it impacts the operational efficiency as well proper utilisation of available technology. It will be agents’ and bankers’ understanding and initiative that will alleviate the fear of technology. Service orientation is also another critically important component. Shri Sethi remarked that standing on the principles of accessibility and affordability, IPPB is in the process of not only offering last mile delivery of financial services but also connect with larger financial ecosystem. IPPB is going to be the largest financial literacy programme anywhere in the world, he added.

Financial inclusion expanded through postal banking partnership enabling doorstep payment services and capacity building to reach underserved rural populations. An agreement establishes a framework to advance financial inclusion by using the postal network for doorstep banking services; it assigns capacity building through training and research support, focuses on agent training and technology adoption to enable third party transfers and Direct Benefit Transfer, and positions the payments bank as a rural centric mechanism for large scale financial literacy and last mile delivery of services.